High School Football Roundup: St. Joseph, Creekside, Bartram Trail cruise to victories

GateHouse Florida

Saturday

Sep 8, 2018 at 12:45 AMSep 8, 2018 at 10:47 AM

Flashes still undefeated

St. Joseph improved to 3-0 on the season Friday night after a second-half surge against visiting Eagle’s View. A trio of St. Joseph touchdowns put the game out of reach as the Flashes celebrated homecoming with a 31-8 win.

The Flashes have allowed four touchdowns in three games. Head coach Brannon Tidwell said there is someone new stepping up every week for the Flashes' defense. St. Joseph didn’t force any turnovers on Friday night; but, the Flashes had enough to slow down Eagle’s View’s ground-based offense.

“Any time you can beat a good football team on homecoming, its’ a good win,” Tidwell said. “Against a single-wing offense that’s hard to stop; they have a lot of speed. Our kids did some good things.”

Grant Fortner caught St. Joseph’s first touchdown of the game from senior quarterback Dylan Thibaut. Sam Ryan’s 38-yard field goal, with less than four minutes remaining in the second quarter, allowed St. Joseph to enter halftime with a 10-8 advantage.

Thibault ran for two touchdowns and senior running back James Drysdale ran for another as St. Joseph pulled away.

St. Joseph visits Gainesville Oak Hall (2-0) next week in a matchup of undefeated teams. The Eagles have yet to allow a point this season.

St. Joseph (3-0) overcame a first-quarter deficit on the way to a 31-8 win against Eagle's View (1-2).

Creekside's Lavatai accounts for 7 TDs

On a night when he was crowned Homecoming King, senior QB Tai Lavatai passed for six touchdowns and ran for a seventh score as Creekside improved to 2-1 with a 48-16 victory over Paxon (1-2).

Lavatai tossed scoring passes to four different receivers, including two apiece to senior Blake Scott and junior Christian Williams.

Scoreless late in the first quarter, Creekside senior linebacker Abe Cates forced a fumble on a sack and Creekside scored five plays later on Lavatai’s first TD pass, a 9-yarder to Scott.

On the ensuing Paxon possession, Creekside’s Jack O’Brien blocked a punt and the Knights scored two plays later on Lavatai’s second TD pass, a 15-yarder to junior wide receiver Quinn Sieger, during a 28-point second quarter.

Creekside forced four Paxon turnovers, including three in the first half. The Knights held the Golden Eagles to 88 yards of total offense with minus-10 yards rushing (four sacks of Paxon QB Bryce Tompkins).

Paxon’s Jaquan Jaudon intercepted Lavatai in the first half and returned the ball 38 yards to the Creekside 37. But Lavatai (12-24, 146 yards), a Navy commitment, has passed for 10 TDs and run for two TDs in three games — all of the Knights’ TDs so far this season. Last season at Paxon, he accounted for five first-half TDs in a 56-12 victory.

Creekside freshman RB Preston Strope rushed for 132 yards on 19 carries as the Knights had 240 yards on the ground.

“Tai’s got to carry the load a lot of nights. With a lot of young guys around him, he’s got to make those guys better. When he does that we can be pretty good on offense,” Creekside coach Sean McIntyre said.

— Ward Clayton

Special teams lift Bishop Kenny over Nease

Sophomore placekicker Sean Meisler converted on a 38-yard field goal, his third of the game, with 5:38 left to lift host Bishop Kenny to a 9-6 win over Nease at J. Joseph Parete Field.

After the Panthers (0-3) tied the game at 6-all on a Joseph Nieves QB keeper, the ensuing extra-point was never attempted off a bad snap.

Junior defensive lineman Neil Politano had two sacks and a key fumble recovery for Bishop Kenny (1-2) while senior defensive end Nick Bergin added four tackles including two for loss and the game ending sack.

Jacob Allsup and Stephen Sarama led Nease with six tackles each.

Nieves rushed for a game high 130 yards on 21 carries and had a 2-yard touchdown for Nease. Senior wideout Cade Sams caught eight passes for 86 yards for Bishop Kenny.

“Our special teams got the job done tonight. Meisler had three big field goals and a huge pooch kickoff that we recovered late in the game and punter Majed Hassan pinned them deep in their end twice in the fourth quarter,” Crusaders coach Bobby Raulerson said.

Dodson threw a long lateral to slot man Griffin Helm, who then threw deep to Brandon Chim for a 33-yard gain to regain the momentum for the Bears (2-1) after Clay’s Abbott Taylor had cut their lead to 14-6 with a TD run.

The trick play led to Dodson’s 7-yard scoring pass to Jackson Mayer and gave Bartram a 20-6 halftime lead. Clay fell to 1-2.

The Bears held Clay slotback Spencer Lesage — who had four TDs a week ago — without a score and limited him to just one catch for 6 yards.

Senior cornerback Harry Bowker had three pass breakups for Bartram, including one on fourth-and-goal that put the game away early in the fourth quarter. Bears sophomore defensive tackle Beau Shields had a sack and two tackles for loss.

Bartram’s Chim cradled an onside kick and caught a pooch kick in heavy traffic to ensure momentum stayed with the Bears.

Dodson distributed the ball to nine different receivers as the Bears scored TDs on their first five possessions. Devin Ellison, Bartram’s leading rusher with 67 yards on five carries, scored the game’s first points on a 22-yard shovel pass and added a 56-yard TD run on the opening play of the third quarter.

Helm had two TDs and a game-high 43 receiving yards. Blue Devils freshman Al’Querious Ray rushed for 179 yards and a TD on 28 carries, while Taylor gained 92 yards on 17 rushes.

Stay Connected

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
The St. Augustine Record ~ One News Place, St. Augustine, FL 32086 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service